Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Works-for-me-Wed. - feedin' a gaggle of young'uns

My motto for myself has become "write it down". This works well when we have friends over for lunch. With my 4, just adding 2 extras adds a lot to my overtaxed brain. There's no way I'll remember all the orders in the midst of my pleasant reminders to not abuse the furnishings or the younger children. So, I just grab a sharpie and a stack of paper plates and a stack of disposable cups. I write everyone's name and lunch order (I provide an extensive gourmet menu of ham or PB &J - grape or strawberry) on the plate and name and drink order (the caffeine is ONLY for me) on the cup. Then I can spend my "free time" making sandwiches at a sane pace. Way better than having the advancing horde lined up at the kitchen island shouting out their "requests".

Works for me! Head on back over to ROCKS IN MY DRYER for oodles of ideas!

3 comments:

Tara said...

I have another trick when I line up the plates. Ready? I line them up oldest to youngest, left to right. And my family all knows it and can recite "oldest to youngest, left to right". They don't have to ask which plate is theirs! That way when I add extra veggies to my veggie lovers plate, skip the mayo on my non-condiment lovers plate, make a grown up sammich for myself or put a few extra pickles on the pickle lovers sammich I know whos plate is whos. If I have extra kids I don't try to shuffle them in with my family's line up but I do add them in age order at the end.

So, a line up of plates might be: Dad, Mom, Evan, Aidan, Toby, Avery (those are mine) and then Timmy and Susanna (two extras in age order) at the end even though Timmy and Susanna are older than a couple of my kids! Make sense? Works for Me!

Unknown said...

Great idea!

I jyst have them all march in the kitchen, one by one, point out what they want from the ready piles and march back.

Feel welcome to read my post about what works for me.

You can find it ::here::


Enjoy your day!

Nikki said...

Oooh! I like your tips as well as Tara's tips. Thanks!